Masters of the Penalty

Two of the world's best!

Barça took on Manchester United today in Gothenburg, Sweden.  Once again, it turned out to be another goal keeping exhibition.  Barça came out with a heavy lineup.  Valdes, Alves, Puyol, Mascherano, Adriano, Iniesta, Busquets, Sergi Roberto, Alexis, Tello, and Messi all took the pitch from the start.  What a beautiful team!  It was a little surprising to see Xavi on the bench, but what a great pre-season Sergi Roberto is having, and today was no different.

Manchester United also came out with their stars today, but the first half was all Barça .  It didn't take long for them to get started, Iniesta took a great shot in the first minute and set Messi up with a beautiful pass in the fifth minute that Leo missed by one step.  Iniesta and Messi continued hooking up beautifully throughout the first half, in the 23rd Iniesta left a perfect heel pass for Messi, who barely missed the far post with a curving shot.  In the 31st minute Man U's Paul Scholes was booked with a yellow card for a tackle on Busquets that was definitely a little rough for a friendly match.  Barça almost found the goal two minutes later with yet another great combination between Messi and Iniesta, taking the defense with them to the right side and Messi left a spectacular ball on the left for a streaking Cristian Tello.  Unfortunately, Tello's shot was deflected for a corner kick that didn't turn into anything.  The only real scare for Barça came in the last minute before halftime when Tello was called for a penalty and Rooney lined up at the spot.  Tello made a terrible decision, sliding in to try and steal a pass inside the area.  At the moment he slid, nobody was directly in front of him but Nani quickly stepped in and got clipped by Tello's feet.  The ref definitely could have let it go, as Nani stepped into Tello's slide when it could have easily been avoided.  Hopefully a lesson was learned here as it is always dangerous to make a sliding tackle in the area!  Luckily, Barça's great streak of blocking penalties continued as Valdes dove to his right and made a brilliant stop on Rooney's shot, saving Barça from going into halftime down one goal.

Alexis!

The first half finished 0-0.  Iniesta seemed to be the best player of the half, but Messi, Alves, Alexis, and Sergi Roberto all looked pretty good!  Barça's domination of the ball was phenomenal, Man U hardly ever touched it and when they did they couldn't keep it.

Although it's big to play against a team like Manchester United, today's match was a friendly and Tito Vilanova made some changes at halftime to give some other players a chance.  Pique, Xavi, Cesc, Pedro, Pinto and Afellay all came on for Puyol, Sergi Roberto, Iniesta, Tello, Valdes, and Messi.

The second half wasn't quite as exciting as the first half and Barça didn't show the same ball control with the new players on the pitch.  Dani Alves and Alexis Sanchez looked like the strongest players, tearing up the right side together.  Man U pushed up the field early and tested the defense with a shot on goal in the 49th minute, but Pinto was there to make the save.  More changes were made for Barça in the 66th, when Bartra, Jordi Alba (finally!!!), Rafinha, and Montoya all came on for Mascherano, Alves, Alexis, and Adriano.  It didn't take long for Bartra to show us once again why he should be playing with the big boys this year.  In the 68th minute, Pinto (who is not known for his footwork) lost the ball just outside the area and Bartra had to step up and make a play, stealing the ball back before Man U could even get a shot off.  In the 70th minute, Busquets and Nani tangled up in the midfield and both received yellow cards.  They were away from the ball and Busquets grabbed Nani's arm, then Nani tripped Busquets.  Unnecessary play from both players in a so called "friendly" match.  The last 20 minutes of the match were quite slow and neither team really controlled the ball or looked like they may win the match.  Afellay took two shots, one went just outside the near post and the second was blocked by Man U's Spanish keeper, De Gea.  In the last 5 minutes Barça had two good crosses into the center of the area but nobody could get a foot (or head) on either of them and the 90 minutes finished with 0-0 on the scoreboard.  It was great to see Bartra continue to play well, but the highlight was definitely when Jordi Alba stepped on the pitch sporting blaugrana for the first time!

Jordi Alba comes on!

Just like our last match against PSG, this one had to be decided by penalties and once again Pinto proved to be the master of stopping shots from the spot.  Nani took the first shot and was obviously intimidated by Pinto, shooting directly into the crossbar and watching the ball bounce back.  Xavi stepped up next and had no problem connecting for Barça .  Man U sent Ashley Young to the spot next. Pinto dove to his right, and continued his amazing streak of blocking penalties.  Gerard Pique finished it off, easily sneaking his shot past De Gea and Barça left Gothenburg still undefeated in the pre-season!  Good work boys!

Pinto saves the day!

Our boys continue the pre-season on Saturday when they take on FC Dinamo Bucharest!

¡Visca Barça!